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Bal Thackeray’s Legacy |
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by Dr. Rajinder Puri |
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What is Bal Thackeray’s legacy? Thackeray is described as a strong man and as a Tiger. When he spoke it was the “Tiger’s Roar”. He had dedicated followers who never hesitated to intimidate with violence anyone they chose. Thanks to the absence of a genuine rule of law in this country they could get away with anything. They could terrorize Mumbai. Thackeray in a TV interview said that he was happy that he inspired fear in others. That fear led Bollywood stars and business magnates to flock to him. But how strong was he really? The “Tiger’s Roar” became a “Kitten’s Meeaaoow” during the Emergency when he offered unstinted support to Indira Gandhi and unlike many other politicians escaped arrest. Commentators refer to his political legacy. What was it? In concrete terms his party never obtained more than eleven seats in the Lok Sabha. His party never succeeded in winning an assembly to rule a state. In real electoral terms he was dwarfed by Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee. Thackeray’s influence and power was concentrated in Mumbai city in which he could dominate and dictate. Ah, but it was Mumbai, the capital of the corporate and cinematic world that he could dominate! Could the national media that runs on corporate money possibly avoid building him up to high heaven? His very limited electoral success apart, what were the policies bequeathed by Thackeray to Indian politics? One can safely say that his death will be mourned as a great loss in the darker political segments of China and Pakistan. His policies pursued everything that the enemies of India sought. He divided, destabilized and weakened India. He politically thrived on hatred against first of all South Indians, later the Muslims and most recently people from North India. He did this for perceived political gain with complete cynicism. He compelled authorities to rename Bombay as Mumbai. But he anglicized own name as Thackeray instead of Thakre! In a TV interview he said that he differentiated between no caste and community but only between the rich and the poor. He said he believed only in one India in which all were Indians regardless of caste or community. Contrast this with his actions on the ground targeting South Indians, North Indians and Muslims. He was candid enough to tell a TV interviewer that he supported Hindutva only because it won him votes. One cannot therefore criticize Bal Thackeray of hypocrisy. How will posterity remember Bal Thackeray? Will he be remembered as a great iconic figure or as a footnote in history? That depends on how long the present corporate dominated establishment continues to rule the nation. After all, during the 1947 Partition if the tearing apart of one nation, of one people, through a holocaust resulting in the death of a million innocents, accompanied by the displacement of 10 million innocents, all this accomplished in a span of three months, in violation of the solemn pledges made to people, continue to be celebrated six decades later as the successful culmination of a great freedom struggle to make India independent, why might Bal Thackeray’s memory not be enshrined in history as a great political icon? |
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18-Nov-2012 | ||
More by : Dr. Rajinder Puri | ||
Views: 3807 Comments: 0 | ||
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